Saving Sami

Chapter 16 Trigger Discipline

ACE- He saw her crumpled in Ghost’s arms before he heard his own voice shouting her name.
He jumped off the truck mid-roll, boots slamming into dirt as his gun came up. Everything else fell away.
Grimm yelled something behind him. Reaper barked an order. None of it mattered.
All Ace saw was the blood soaking her shirt.
The knife.
Ghost’s arm around her neck.
And then he pulled the trigger.
He fired once—twice—didn’t care where the bullets landed.
All he saw was her, limp and bleeding in Ghost’s arms like a broken doll.
“SAMI!”
The sound ripped from his throat like it was dragged from his soul.
Ghost ducked behind her, dragging her backward toward the treeline, using her body as a human shield, grinning like the devil himself. Blood poured from her side, soaking her in red.
Ace charged.
Grimm tackled him from the left before he could close the distance.


“Think, dammit!” Grimm shouted, yanking Ace behind the truck. “You shoot again, you hit her!”
Ace fought him off, his chest heaving like a caged animal. His eyes were wide, wild, soaked in panic. “He stabbed her! I saw it—I saw it—!”
Grimm grabbed him by the front of the cut. “And if you rush in there blind, you’ll get her killed.”
Gunfire exploded behind them—Reaper’s crew laying down suppressing fire.
“MOVE!” Reaper barked, sweeping around the flank, leading half a dozen patched members through the trees.
Crow’s voice rang out in Ace’s earpiece. “He’s retreating! Taking her toward the back trail—east slope!”


REAPER-
Reaper didn’t hesitate.
Ghost was exactly the kind of monster he expected—smart, brutal, and arrogant enough to think he could walk Sami into the woods and disappear.
But he underestimated the Devil’s Sons.
Reaper signaled Crow and Buster left. Grimm and Ace right.
“Don’t shoot unless you have a clean line!” he shouted. “We do this fast, and we do it right.”
He clicked on the radio. “Crow—cut him off. Don’t let him reach the ridge.”
He turned to Grimm. “Keep Ace from going feral.”
Grimm nodded. “I’ll try. But he’s seeing red.”
Reaper gritted his teeth. “Then we better get there before he loses everything.”


SAMI-
Her head lolled against Ghost’s shoulder as he dragged her deeper into the trees.
She was conscious, barely. Every heartbeat pushed more blood from the wound in her side, and her limbs were starting to go numb. But her mind was still fighting.
The knife was still in her.
Ghost hadn’t pulled it out. He’d left it—deep, twisted—probably to keep her alive long enough to get what he wanted. She felt his breath on her neck.
“You know,” he muttered, “I always wondered what made you so special. But now I get it.”
He stopped moving, adjusted his grip.
“You’re the storm in his brain. The reason he loses control. You’re the weakness.”
Sami’s fingers twitched.
Weakness? She was bleeding to death—but she wasn’t done yet.
With the last of her strength, she twisted her body violently, slamming her boot against his shin.
Ghost stumbled—just enough.
And Ace was there.


ACE-
He hit Ghost like a f*****g meteor.
Tackled him off Sami, fists flying, wild, savage. No thought. Just fury.
The two men hit the ground, rolled in a mess of blood and dirt. Ghost grunted, pulled a pistol—but Ace knocked it away with a punch that cracked bone.
“DON’T—TOUCH—HER—AGAIN!”
Each word came with a blow, the last one knocking Ghost unconscious—or worse.
Grimm pulled Ace back just as Reaper grabbed Sami from the dirt, cradling her limp body.
“We’ve got her! Med bag, now!” Reaper shouted.
Ace scrambled over and dropped beside her, cupping her cheek.
“Sami—Sami, baby—look at me.”
Her eyes fluttered. She smiled weakly, blood staining her teeth.
“Told you… I can handle your world…”
Then her eyes rolled back, and she passed out in his arms.
“NO-NO, SAMI, BABY” he puts his forehead up to hers “please wake up”